Engage pinch-hits for Volatile

ELMONT, N.Y. – Steve Asmussen was supposed to win Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Vosburgh with Volatile. With that horse retired due to injury, he will instead try to win it with Engage.

Away from the races since a fourth-place finish in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Engage will look to earn an automatic berth into this year’s BC Sprint when he faces five rivals in the Vosburgh at Belmont Park. The Vosburgh is designated a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, to be run Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

Engage, a 5-year-old son of Into Mischief, was scheduled to run in the Saudi Cup Sprint in February. He suffered an unspecified setback upon his arrival in Saudi Arabia and missed the race. He didn’t return to the work tab until July.

“I think this is a very good spot for him to start back,” Asmussen said. “We’re looking for a horse that can improve upon being fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.”

Engage, owned by Woodford Racing, began his career in the barn of Chad Brown. At 2, he won the Grade 3 Futurity here – the last running on the dirt before it became a turf race. At 3, at Belmont, Engage won the Gold Fever Stakes and was second in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens.

Saturday, Engage has the outside post in this six-horse field. He is 3 for 3 when breaking from the outside post.

“Perfect draw,” Asmussen said. “I did have a gate work in him expecting him not to be that lucky. I like it nonetheless.”

Jose Ortiz rides Engage. Firenze Fire finished last in the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga, confirming his disdain for a sloppy track. In returning to Belmont Park, he is back on a surface over which he has won four stakes, including the Grade 1 Champagne at 2, the Runhappy and the Grade 3 Dwyer at 3, and the Grade 2 True North earlier this year. The True North was his second start for trainer Kelly Breen. In last year’s Vosburgh, Firenze Fire gave Imperial Hint all he wanted before losing to that rival by a nose.

Since the Forego, he has come back to work a solid five furlongs in 59.20 seconds over the Belmont main track on Sept. 17. Jose Lezcano rides from post 5.

True Timber, Funny Guy, and Stan the Man all were late entries into the Vosburgh. True Timber and Funny Guy finished third and fourth, respectively, in the Forego. True Timber, trained by Jack Sisterson, was part of a hot pace that day and did well to hold third.

True Timber’s last two victories came in allowance sprints at Belmont in 2018.

Funny Guy won a pair of statebred stakes to kick off his 4-year-old season. He did not have an easy trip in the Forego.

Stan the Man, who is not certain to run, comes off a victory in the restricted Tale of the Cat Stakes at Saratoga.

Share the Ride, who was claimed for $16,000 in July by Antonio Arriaga, comes off a front-running victory in the Mr. Prospector Stakes at Monmouth two weeks ago.

The Vosburgh goes as race 9 on a 10-race card.